Arizona Vacation - Day 4

DAY 4

So, we woke up in our hotel, the kids of course went swimming again after breakfast, in the hotel pool, then we packed up and checked out, heading to the Grand Canyon. We had a rather slow and laid back morning, so it was about 10:30 when we finally left Flagstaff. We drove the 30 minutes to Williams, then took highway 64 out to the Grand Canyon. We were about 30 or 40 minutes away from our destination (Mather Campground) when suddenly traffic came to a complete STOP! We waited, wondering what was going on. Saw several emergency response vehicles zoom past us... EVENTUALLY we got to the front of the line to find out that there had been a serious car accident (head on collision between a motor home and a passenger vehicle. I looked it up when I got home and if I remember correctly, there was 1 fatality and 11 injuries... Anyway, the road was going to be shut down for the next 5 hours!!!!! We turned back towards Williams. Our directions were to go BACK to Flagstaff, then take highway 89 out to highway 64 (just a few miles past where the accident had been...) then continue on. (if I had know that road existed I would have taken it in the first place - for crying out loud!)

I had a hard time accepting that it was REALLY going to take that long to open back up, so we (I) opted to stay in Williams for an hour to eat lunch, then see if we could get through. NO SUCH LUCK! We finally gave up after wasting ANOTHER hour) and drove the 30 minutes back to Flagstaff, then out the other route. When we reconnected with Hwy 64, we could see that they still had it closed down (going towards Williams)... Instead of getting to camp at noon'ish, then having the afternoon to hike and play, we didn't get there until about 4:30 - 5:00!!! WHAT A PAIN!!!! We quickly set up camp, then went to check out the canyon. It was just a tad bit CHILLY!!! It was ok is you found a spot IN the sun, and sheltered from the wind, but there weren't many of those moments. That wind was simply BITING! Weather notwithstanding, the canyon is truly amazing! I know some people say, "it's just a big hole in the ground..." Phooey on them! It is a masterpiece of God's handiwork!

Back to camp, build a fire, cook dinner, eat, then off to bed! It was FREEZING! In the main visitor's center they have a big screen that shows the current temperature, plus the forecast, plus the previous day's temps. It showed that the night temperature for the evening we camped there was 27*!! No wonder I was cold! Thank heavens for my little Mr Heater Buddy. I ran it in the tent while the kids were trying to fall asleep and then again when I woke up so the tent would be a bit warmer when the kids had to wake up and get dressed... It was funny, after I turned off the heater and then hunkered down in my sleeping bag, I could literally FEEL the temperature in the tent dropping. it was crazy. But it's ALL GOOD!

And now, some pictures...

(I was rather bummed that you can't actually see the grand canyon behind us... but it WAS there... I promise!)


(yes, that is snow on the side, we had small patches of it in the campsite too.)









When I got into the tent after putting the fire out, I found Katrina all snuggled up with Caleb - keeping him warm. It was so sweet - (if we could just stop the thumb sucking...)



(I even had to take a close up...)